The Twin Rise of Populism and Authoritarianism

The EditorsMonday, May 13, 2019

Globally, the past decade has been marked by the twin advances of authoritarianism and populism. The two are not always linked, but in situations ranging from the Philippines and Cambodia to Hungary and Poland, politicians have leveraged populist movements to seize power. Once in office, they have begun the process of dismantling the institutions designed to check their authority and protect human rights, particularly the judiciary and the media.

The populist boom is fueled by disparate, local issues, but these often share common features, such as feelings of disenfranchisement, of being left out of a global economic boom and of discomfort at seeing familiar social orders upended. The movements these grievances generate have spurred anti-immigrant xenophobia—and, in places like Hungary and Greece, even horrifying episodes of political violence—as underlying prejudices are exploited by opportunistic politicians.

Champions of liberal democracy have often appeared hamstrung in their attempts to counter these forces, but there have been some recent successes, including the rise of the Greens across Europe and electoral setbacks for extremist parties in France and Spain. And in countries where centrist or right-wing parties have chosen to adopt populist policies rather than to push back against them, civil society groups have been resurgent.

WPR has covered the rise of populism and authoritarianism in detail, and continues to examine key questions about what will happen next. How will Chinese President Xi Jinping’s creeping authoritarianism affect the global order? What role will President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war play in the Philippines’ mid-term elections? Can Europe push back against illiberalism in its midst? Is populism a significant threat to democracy around the world?

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Zuzana Caputova's recent election as Slovakia's first female president has been framed as a great liberal victory that could push back populism and resurgent nationalism in the region. Journalist Tim Gosling examines whether this small state, which has endured significant political upheaval over the past year, can really deliver on this big promise.

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The Philippines

Ahead of his 2016 election, Duterte won widespread support for his pledge to wage an extrajudicial war on drugs. And he has delivered. Since his elections, thousands of Filipinos have been killed in the "war on drugs," even as that campaign has masked Duterte's other efforts to consolidate power.

Cambodia

After facing a stiff electoral challenge from a united opposition in 2014, Prime Minister Hun Sen initially responded by seeking reconciliation. Since then, however, he reverted to his traditional authoritarian ways, cracking down on the now-fractured opposition to consolidate his power in elections in 2018, at the cost of his ties with Europe and the U.S.

Turkey

Over the past decade, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has gone from being a model of democratic political Islam to a traditional autocrat, using a counterterrorism campaign to crack down on dissent and a failed coup as an excuse to purge political opponents. But significant electoral gains by the opposition in recent local elections show that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's hold on power might not be as absolute as he thought it was.

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European Anti-Immigrant Parties

The continent is a hotbed for populist movements, mostly driven by anti-immigrant sentiment. In countries where those parties have won power, particularly in the east, they have often attempted to dismantle democratic institutions.

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